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Electrical issues with 2002 Suburban. Gauges, radio and AC not working

TheGageinator
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TheGageinator New Member

TheGageinator

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2002 Suburban 5.3L 2wd LT

I tightened up my steering column wobble today and removed an old alarm system that didn't work. After that, I'm having electrical issues with a few things. My Tach/speedo dont work as well as the ODO and message center. The radio / ac controls have backlight, but do not work. The truck starts and runs just fine. I have a trip planned for tomorrow evening, and I'm stumped! I made a video to illustrate my issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2qLaRqZuto

Black02Silverado Senior Enthusiast

Black02Silverado

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Go back over all the connections you disconnected and make sure they are secure.  As well as any connections in that area that you might have bumped and possibly come loose.  Also, take all your grounds off, like around the battery and frame and clean them up really good with sand paper or wire brush and put some dielectric grease on them.  Then see if that helps.  A bad ground can cause all kind of headaches.

Johnny-5 Enthusiast

Johnny-5

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2 hours ago, TheGageinator said:

2002 Suburban 5.3L 2wd LT

I tightened up my steering column wobble today and removed an old alarm system that didn't work. After that, I'm having electrical issues with a few things. My Tach/speedo dont work as well as the ODO and message center. The radio / ac controls have backlight, but do not work. The truck starts and runs just fine. I have a trip planned for tomorrow evening, and I'm stumped! I made a video to illustrate my issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2qLaRqZuto

If you lost gauges, radio and AC controls it sounds like the GM serial class 2 data wiring may have been shorted or pulled down.  Try unplugging each 1 at a time to see if the others have functions return.  One of the components may have been shorted.  Did you disconnect the negative cable before removing the alarm?  Did the alarm have piercing bayonet connectors clamped onto wires?  If so some wires may have been broken by them during removal.

TheGageinator New Member

TheGageinator

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I figured it out! I checked all the fuses (with a multimeter testing continuity across the tops) at least 3 times prior to puling the whole dash apart looking for bad wires. After hours of wire tracing, I decided to pull each fuse out and visually inspect it. ALL that work for a blown radio fuse...IT WAS THE 15 amp FUSE FOR THE RADIO IN THE ENGINE BAY FUSE BLOCK. Hopefully my incompetency will help the next guy. The fuse was clearly blown even though my meter didn't catch it. 

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